LOS ANGELES, CA – July 15th, 2014 – SOA Software, an API Management and SOA Governance leader, announced the availability of the Enterprise API catalog, an enhancement to its API Management Platform that drive the creation of API communities inside the enterprise. The API catalog combines the collaborative, open practices of external API Portals with search, controlled visibility, selective provisioning, and integration with enterprise security that are required for internal development. This public-private fusion offers enterprises a refreshing and productive way to harness the potential of APIs for software reuse and business value creation.

“As enterprises modernize their IT infrastructure and adopt cloud and mobility initiatives, they find themselves embracing APIs to drive internal application development and integration. However, the one-size-fits-all approach does not work with API portals. Internal development communities are often more sophisticated than open or public communities,” said Alistair Farquharson, CTO of SOA Software. “The SOA Software Enterprise API catalog offers the business value that was long-promised but seldom delivered by cumbersome legacy repositories, providing the next generation of secured developer communities that span the various underlying protocols that enterprise APIs will support.”

Compared to open or public APIs, internal APIs have many distinct characteristics that require a different approach to management and security. While an enterprise might have only a few external APIs, it might deploy hundreds of internal services delivered in multiple protocols and transports including REST, SOAP, and POX, over HTTP/S, AMQP, MQ, JMS. To foster re-use, speed, efficiency, and agile application development, enterprises need to be able to publish their internal APIs in a searchable catalog. They need all the capabilities of an external API portal but combined with the kind of security controls and visibility restrictions often required for internal scenarios.

Modeled on open API developer communities but adapted for the enterprise, the API catalog features a feature-rich internal developer portal. Services can be imported directly into the API catalog from existing repositories. From the portal, developers can engage with one another, learn about available APIs, make agreements to use them, and integrate them into the application development lifecycle (ALM.) Enterprise-grade aspects of the API catalog include:

Search index driven – Makes it easy for developers to find internal services and APIs. The catalog indexes discussions, documents, and published metadata. Results can be filtered.

Group support for security and community management - Shares API and service visibility only with appropriate groups and develop communities of interest around particular areas.

Enterprise identity system support – Leverages existing identity systems, extending them to support the developer and app user communities adding modern standards such as OpenID Connect and OAuth.

API and app lifecycle management – Maintains the privacy, accuracy and timeliness of the information presented in the catalog.

Closed loop operations and auditing – Ensures that all decisions are effected and audited with a closed loop integration between the catalog, the runtime gateway, and the lifecycle management solution.

External API consumption – Allows the enterprise to subscribe to an external API once, but allow multiple internal developers to leverage the same API for internal application development.

About SOA Software

SOA Software is a leading provider of API Management and SOA Governance products that equip business to deliver APIs and SOA together to drive their company to meet its business strategy quickly and effectively. SOA Software’s technology helps businesses to accelerate their digital channels with APIs, drive partner adoption, monetize their assets, and achieve agility and operational excellence across their applications and datacenters. Some of the world’s largest companies including Bank of America, Pfizer, and Verizon use SOA Software products. SOA Software is also recognized as a “Leader” by Gartner in Application Services Governance MQ and as a leader by other analyst firms. For more information on SOA Software’s API Platform, see http://www.soa.com